Vandy’s most fashionable freshmen: Christopher Bell

Maybe you know Chris as the photographer for Vandy’s Most Fashionable Freshmen. Or perhaps you know him as that loveable Pisces who probably serves you ravioli at Commons every Sunday and Monday night.

I know him as one of Blair’s most talented composition students who happens to sit across from me whenever I eat a meal.

Chris and I have been pals ever since I started at Vanderbilt. I remember seeing him for the first time at Blair orientation with his long surfer-dude hair and a flowery bandana tied around it. By the looks of his hair, I’d instantly assumed he was from California. Little did I know, Chris grew up in Delaware.

He’s a leap year baby, so he just turned five. Despite his astonishing youth, Chris Bell happens to be one of the smartest, most gifted, and most compassionate people I’ve ever met.

Tell me what you’re majoring in and why.

*Stares blankly into the distance* This is the hardest question anybody has ever asked me.

*Sighs* I’m majoring in music composition. I’m in Blair, and I have no clue why I’m doing that. We’re gonna see how it goes. One day, I woke up and I was like, “I don’t like school. I don’t like Delaware. I don’t like anything!” Then I left home and went to this weird boarding school for two years where I learned how to compose music for a little and now I’m in college for it and students loans have stacked up and I have *singing voice* no clue what I’m doin’!

When did you first start writing music and what compelled you to?

*Mumbling* I was in choir in high school.

Can you speak into the microphone?

*Screaming* I was in choir in high school. And we did this piece by this woman named Abbie. I don’t even know how to say her last name. It was Latin text. I don’t know. I’m probably speaking so ignorantly right now that anybody who knows anything about religious texts is gonna be like… *eyes widen*

So it was really beautiful. And I was like, “That’s really beautiful! I wanna do that. I should try to write music!”

And then instead of actually writing music, I just wrote songs for three years. I wanted to be Ed Sheeran. Actually there was a male pageant at my high school. I entered and I played Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran. I did the loop pedal thing that he does. And I won the male pageant!

No way!

And then I was like, “Wow I feel stupid. I just played a song with a loop pedal in a male pageant at my high school.” So then I was just like, “Maybe I should compose music!” And I tried to compose music. That didn’t go well for a little while. *Long pause* I don’t remember what the question was. I’m gonna stop.

How do you think your style has evolved over the years? Have you always dressed this grungy?

*Under his breath* Grungy? Grungy? Actually, no. In high school, I enjoyed Jordans. I had a really fresh pair of blue Jordans. I wore midcalves Nike socks with them every day. You know, I had a nice array of basketball shorts that I would pair with those. Maybe a T-shirt. A lot of Aeropostale, a few American Eagle. I had my array of hoodies. I used to really rock the Jordans, Nike sweatpants, a hoodie, and like a North Face over the hoodie ‘cause like, “I’m in class, but apparently it’s 30 degrees in this room, so I need to be sweating under all these clothes.”

It wasn’t until I went to a boarding school with a lot of liberal minded people that I got a pair of dress shoes and I stopped wearing Jordans. I stopped wearing basketball shorts, too. I started to wear real pants. And was like, “Maybe I’ll wear a flannel shirt. Or a sweater!” And then I got a sweater, and I was like, “I have a sweater? I’ll wear a sweater!” And since then, it’s just sort of steamrolled into the cacophony that has become my ever-present presentation of myself.

So, you had a basketball player phase, but did you have any other phases growing up?

I was never a basketball player. I just wanted to look like one. I mean, I swam in high school. So for a while, I was like, “I have a Speedo jacket! And a TYR bag. I’m gonna use that for swim practice and class! ‘Cause… multipurpose!

Actually, I think I went through a frat boy phase before I came here. Like sophomore year, I’d wear polos and khaki shorts. I had a pair of brown boat shoes that I got from Target for like $15. I wore them to a music festival once and they fell apart. I think that was the cosmic energy somewhere in the universe speaking to me.

Yeah, I went through a phase last year where I dressed like I was homeless. I wore the same pair of pants every single day. And I would wear like three oversized button downs, like layered button downs.

Ah, but that’s fresh dude!

But they were all like flannelly and they were always dirty. My choir director once told me that I actually did look homeless.

When I met you, Chris, you had long hair. Tell me why you liked it so much, and why you cut it off.

So, I have a theory about the long hair. Before I went to high school, I also had really long hair. It wasn’t long enough to try and put in a bun, I don’t even think I knew what a man bun was yet. I don’t think the rest of society did either. Maybe a few hermits in Colorado. But then I shaved my head before I went to high school and I was like, “I’m gonna start fresh! I’m gonna be a new person! I’m gonna let go of the hair.”

Then I started growing my hair out while I was up at school in Michigan, and I was like, “I’m gonna be artsy. I’m gonna have a man bun, and all of my ideas are gonna come out of my hair ‘cause it’s gonna be so big!”

And then I got here and I was like, “Hmm. I have to wash this a lot. This gets in my face.” My face was breakin’ out a lot. It started to just look really bad. I realized that I didn’t want to have long hair. Then I just cut it very… what’s the word when you do something out of nowhere?

Oh. Like, spur of the moment?

It was just spur of the moment. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was like, “I’m gonna cut my hair.”

Did you go to Supercuts?

No, I went to the barbershop on 21st. Yeah. This guy, I think his name is Kevin. Super cool. He told me about his open-carry test.

*Scared* What’s that?

He took a test to open-carry a firearm. He told me about it. Did you know all you have to do is pass a test?

What’s one thing you want people to know about you that your clothing doesn’t already tell them?

I don’t know. I don’t think I dress with the intention of telling anyone anything.

If I wanted to tell people things with how I dressed, I’d wear things with things written on them. I would wear something that said like, “Hi, my name is Chris” or like, “Today, I don’t want to speak to any of you.” I would just wear shirts that actually said things. I think that’d be a really clear way to tell people things.

‘Cause otherwise, you’re leaving everything up to interpretation. Your clothes just convey certain subconscious meanings depending on how they look, but everyone’s going to interpret those differently.

Have you ever been made fun of for wearing something in particular?

*Nodding enthusiastically* Yes. Elementary school was a hard time. I was really into skinny jeans.

In elementary school?

Elementary school, I was really into skinny jeans. But one day, I royally messed up. Instead of wearing, you know, like those skate shoes?

Like Etnies?

Etnies. Anyway, I couldn’t find them in the morning, so instead of wearing those with my skinny jeans, I wore tennis shoes. So I was wearing tennis shoes and skinny jeans, with some dirty zip-up hoodie, and everybody made fun of me that day. Everybody called me gay ‘cause I was wearing skinny jeans, and I was like *whining*, “I just wanted to be a skater. I just want to be hardcore!”

Yeah, I got made fun of a lot for wearing things that women might wear.

Like your Liz Claiborne jacket?

*Glares at me*

You have a very adorable long-distance girlfriend whose name may or may not be Olivia. What do you like about the way she dresses?

*Red-cheeked and smiling way too much* Well, I think Olivia is the most beautiful woman in the world.

I didn’t ask you that.

Yeah, well, I’m gonna say it because she’s awesome. She could wear trash bags and I’d still like the way she dresses. She just looks professional all the time. She looks very mature because of the way she dresses. She doesn’t dress like she’s a kid in college.

Also, she’s gorgeous, so…

How do you think being a Pisces informs what you wear?

You know, a lot of it’s really focused on my feet. The socks go into it heavily since the area of the body for Pisces is the feet.

Of course, because everyone knows that.

*Rambling in a high pitched voice* And that’s a really personal thing because, you know, I’m a really personal, sensitive person. Nobody even sees my socks so you know it’s just for me. It’s just about my feet and me. Just me and my feet. 

Everything else is just really… on the surface, you know, just like really extra-physical, like metaphysical. Like, metaphysics is really cool. Sometimes when I think about metaphysics, I just think like, if I could convey that somehow in the way that I dress compared to like, cosmic energy but like, metaphysics, but also just like, extra-physics. Also, science. Just somehow, if I could get science in there.

No, but really, it doesn’t have anything to do with the way I dress.

Does anyone inspire what you wear?

George Danger Miller.

Is that his real middle name?

That’s his real middle name. He told me yesterday that it’s on his birth certificate.

Just for backstory, George Danger Miller, sophomore music composition major at Blair, has a very aggressive man bun. That’s all you need to know.

*Correcting me* It’s a half man bun. 

Alright, I don’t really know what else I’ve got here.

*In the voice of a carnival barker* C’mon. I’m just gettin’ warmed up here, kiddo.

You said you got made fun of in the past. If someone now-a-days made fun of what you wear, what would you say to them?

If you’re making fun of people for what they wear, and they’re not wearing something completely ridiculous like a polka dot, bubble wrap three-piece suit. Even if they’re wearing that, good for you!

You must be a sad person if you’re 19 or 20 years old, you’re in college, you’re living on your own, you’re supposed to be an independent individual, but you’re going to make fun of the way somebody dresses? Grow up. If you’re still in high school, maybe go back to high school. 

Do you want to do any shameless plugs?

Check out my Soundcloud. It’s Christopher Bell *space* 35 or 36 I don’t remember which one. Just search Christopher Bell. I have a glamour shot on there. The guy who cut off all my long hair told me it’s a glamour shot, but I think it’s just a rather professional photo.

After our interview and photoshoot, we walked to Bamboo Bistro for lunch and as we crossed Wyatt Lawn on the way to main campus, Chris tells me he was sad that I didn’t ask him what his least favorite guy’s fashion trend was.
So he told it to me straight:

I really hate white tube socks. Especially when they’re paired with some white tennis shoes and the pair of khaki shorts that doesn’t fit quite right and an oversized Vineyard Vines t-shirt. It just really grinds my gears.